Graham Rahal Crushes 'Sky Is Falling' Narrative After Disappointing IndyCar Ratings At Thermal Club

Graham Rahal wants everyone to take a deep breath and chillax.

The IndyCar world was a little nervous this week after some disappointing TV ratings for the second race of the season, which took place at The Thermal Club.

This came on the heels of a massive start to the year in St. Petersburg, which was the most watched non-Indy 500 race the series has had in well over a decade.

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There were undoubtedly problems that the series probably needs to address: waiting three weeks for another race after the high of St. Pete needs to be addressed (and will with the introduction of the street race in Arlington, Texas next season), while The Thermal Club hasn't proved to be a track that gets the fans particularly excited.

The man who pilots the No. 15 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing responded to a piece by the Indy Star's Nathan Brown discussing some of the problems and noted that Thermal Club probably isn't a great place for the series to hold one of its races.

Rahal — who has been around the series his entire life — is right about a lot of that, but I still don't think a whole lot of that came across to viewers, especially after the track suffered a technical glitch that affected pretty much everything at the track, including the broadcast.

The Associated Press' Jenna Fryer challenged Rahal to find a positive after the ratings were released, and that's when he really made some good points.

"Head to head with NASCAR AND issues with telecast," Rahal wrote. "NASCAR is, and has been the whale. The rest did not face this competition, otherwise they would’ve also seen greatly diminished ratings. 

"That’s FACTS. Nobody said the rating is good, but the sky is falling narrative is also false. How bout we give it more than 2 races to see if there’s validity to this?"

IndyCar driver Graham Rahal explained why people need to relax after disappointing rating for the second race of the IndyCar season. (© Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images and Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images)

He then pointed out how in two races, the narrative did a complete 180.

"After race 1, wow the world is amazing and Indycar is crushing it with a hell of an increase," Rahal continued. "After race 2, the world is collapsing and Indycar is awful and has no clue where their place in existence is. 

"Reality is, there’s a distinct group of people who can’t help but focus predominantly on negativity. This is also FACTS!"

Rahal is right. While I still think the biggest issue is the series taking three weeks off after its season opener, every race is different. St. Pete wasn't in direct competition with NASCAR; it is a circuit that the series has gone to for decades.

Neither of that was true for Thermal Club.

So, I'm with Rahal on this one, and I expect a bounce-back as far as the ratings are concerned.